King Carl XVI Gustaf: strange poll result

Monarchies are not ruled by polls. A King is not elected. Polls do not really concern them. Numbers can be manipulated to get the desired result. A case in point is the poll conducted by Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet and published Wednesday. 'Six out of ten Swedes want King to abdicate' reported media outlets the world over.

True or false?

Sixty percent of the 1,000 Swedes interviewed by SIFO in December indicated they would like to see the King hand over the crown to his eldest daughter Crown Princess Victoria. Six out of ten indeed. But, wait. That is only part of the story. No less than 23 percent want him to do so in ten years time, another 20 percent in five years, leaving only a meagre 17 percent for him to do so this year. Hardly alarming.

Which also means that the largest number of Swedes (32 percent) want him to continue indefinitedly.. Quite different from the headlines.